The Peace Process at Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was a peace agreement signed after WW1. The treaty was signed at the Versailles Palace and it was between Germany and the Allies. The Palace was considered the most appropriate place to have the treaty signed because of its size and because many people were involved in the process and the final signing in the Hall of Mirrors.

The Peace Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919. The treaty consisted 440 Articles and it was first presented to Germany on 7 May 1919. The Allies gave Germany two weeks to accept the treaty and they sent back a list of complaints but finally agreed to accept it. It is often told that the treaty supported the rise of the Nazis in 1930s Germany, which then led to the outbreak of World War II.

"The Palace of Versailles was the official residence of the Kings of France from 1682 until 1790. It was originally a hunting lodge, built in 1624, by Louis XIII. It was expanded by Louis XIV beginning in 1669. He used it as a little lodge as a secret refuge for his amorous trysts with the lovely Louise de la Valliere and built a fairy tale park around it. Jules Hardouin Mansart, the king's principal architect, drew the plans to enlarge what was turning more and more into a palace from A Thousand and One Nights. The terrace that overlooked the gardens was removed to make way for the magnificent Hall of Mirrors, the Galarie de Glaces. It is here from which the king radiated his power and where the destiny of Europe was decided over a century. The French classical architecture was complemented by extensive gardens."

"The main terms of the Versailles Treaty were: the surrender of all German colonies as League of Nations mandates, the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France, cession of Eupen-Malmedy to Belgium, Memel to Lithuania, the Hultschin district to Czechoslovakia, Poznania, parts of East Prussia and Upper Silesia to Poland; Danzig to become a free city; plebiscites to be held in northern Schleswig to settle the Danish-German frontier; occupation and special status for the Saar under French control; (8) demilitarization and a fifteen-year occupation of the Rhineland; German reparations of £6,600 million; a ban on the union of Germany and Austria; an acceptance of Germany's guilt in causing the war; provision for the trial of the former Kaiser and other war leaders; limitation of Germany's army to 100,000 men with no conscription, no tanks, no heavy artillery, no poison-gas supplies, no aircraft and no airships; the limitation of the German Navy to vessels under 100,000 tons, with no submarines."

On June 28, two German men signed the treaty. The signing ceremony brought the final act of the Great War to an end. No one knew this would have an effect twenty years later with more terrible consequences."Three contributing factors that lead to the defeat of the Treaty of Versailles were the strength of opposing forces, opposition to the League of Nations, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's discontent from not being involved in the negotiations of the Treaty's terms." book source